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October 23, 2005

Lingering Hopes and Haunting Fears

Of course, the REAL suspense on Saturday involved the teams facing possible relegation. With time quickly running out on them, teams like Omiya Ardija, Kashiwa Reysol, Vissel Kobe and Tokyo Verdy faced crucial contests this weekendwhich may very well have determined their fate. So without further ado, here are the results of Saturday's contests:

Date	Home	.	Visitor	Venue
29 Oct		3-2		Saitama Stadium
29 Oct		1-2		Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
29 Oct		1-0		Tokyo Nat'l Stadium
29 Oct		1-3		Iwata (Yamaha) Stadium
29 Oct		1-2		Toyota Stadium
29 Oct		1-1		Kobe Wing Stadium
29 Oct		0-1		Oita "Big Eye" Stadium
30 Oct		2-1		Ajinomoto Stadium
30 Oct		0-0		Nagai Stadium

3 - 2

The intensity of this clash certainly reflected the high stakes, and indeed, the head referee Mr. Iemoto had a difficult time keeping things under control. His little notebook quickly filled up as ten players earned yellow cards and one was sent off with a straight red, yet we actually had little reason to complain about Mr. Iemoto's officiating. If anything, he seemed to be a bit lenient, overlooking incidents that might have earned bookings from some of the J.League's more "interventionist" referees. The number of disciplinary actions was the result of a very close contest played at a breakneck pace by two teams that understood the stakes, and realised this was a do-or-die match.

The scoring got started just eight minutes after kickoff, on a play that was pretty much representative of the entire contest. Yuichiro Nagai received the ball on the left side, about level with the top of the penalty arc, and looped a cross into the box for Tomislav Maric. The former Croiatian international was isolated on Hideki Sahara, and had both position and a slight height advantage. With really no other options, Sahara tried to muscle Maric off balance to prevent him from timing his jump properly. But Maric went to the ground heavily, doing his best to accentuate the contact, and Mr. Iemoto had little difficulty justifying the call, and awarding the PK. Alex Santos collected from the penalty spot and the Reds had an early lead.

Ten minutes before the break, Santos extended the Reds lead after Robson Ponte broke down the Frontale defence and sent Santos through with a well-timed lead pass. Things were begining to look bad for the visitors, as the huge crowd in Saitama Stadium began to get behind their team with vocal enthusiasm.

But in a sudden flurry of action, Frontale surged back into the contest and silenced the crowd, following two beautifully orchestrated set plays. Kawasaki got its first tally of the day seven minute before the break, on a free kick from the left side which was played for the near post, with Juninho dashing forward from deep in the box to head it home. Then, with a minute of injury time played and everyone in the stadium expecting the Reds to take a lead into the locker room, Frontale won a free kick on their final offensive possession of the half, about seven meters above the top of the circle, straight out from goal. Marcus de Morais struck the kick beautifully, sending a low curling drive which keeper Ryota Tsuzuki did not see until it was well past the wall. The ball slipped into the right corner before Tsuzuki could react, and the score was deadlocked.

The second half was played at a furious pace, and it was surprising that neither team lost a man to accumulated yellows. The Reds did lose Tadaaki Hirakawa however, to a hamstring pull as he strained a bit too hard chasing a ball down the right sideline. With 15 minutes remaining in the contest, the Reds finally broke the standoff following a corner kick which was initially cleared, but collected by the Reds and sent into the box once more. Marcus Tulio Tanaka, who had remained in front of goal following the initial clearance, got his head to the ball and flicked it on into the left corner for the go-ahead goal.

As the clock ran down, things very nearly got out of hand. Kawasaki's U-18 striker Ken Tokura was chasing into the Reds box after a high lob, but Tulio screened him off and Tsuzuki came out to collect the ball. As rash youngsters sometimes do, Tokura made a desperate effort to throw a foot at the ball before the keeper could reach it, but with Tulio interposing his body, he never had a chance of connecting with the ball. Instead, he ended up cleating Tsuzuki squarely in the groin.

Tulio immediately knocked Tokura to the ground and Tsuzuki -- in an outburst of mixed pain and anger, shoved Tokura in the back as he lay on the ground. This brought everyone else on the pitch running and a semi-melee of jostling and shouting ensued while the referee tried to regain some sort of control. In the end, Tokura was sent off with a straight red, while Tsuzuki was fortunate to escape with a yellow. This pretty much put an end to the competitive portion of the match, and the Reds dribbled out the final five minutes of play to claim the victory.

The win moves the Reds into third place temporarily, within four points of league leaders Gamba Osaka and two behind Kashima Antlers (at least for a day). Frontale, on the other hand, are now effectively eliminated from contention for the league title, as the loss drops them into sixth place.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Saitama Stadium
3	2 1H 2 1 2H 0	2
Alex Santos (8') Alex Santos (8') Marcus Tulio Tanaka (76')	Scoring	Juninho (37') Marcus (44')
Makoto Hasebe Nobuhisa Yamada Tomislav Maric Tomoyuki Sakai Ryota Tsuzuki	Cautions	Hideki Sakara Yoshinobu Minowa Tomoaki Kuno Yasuhiro Nagahashi Taku Harada
	Sent Off	Ken Tokura
Lineups: Ryota Tsuzuki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Hideki Uchidate, Nobuhisa Yamada, Makoto Hasebe, Tomoyuki Sakai (Satoshi Horinouchi 67), Alessandro Santos, Robson Ponte, Yuichiro Nagai (Tadaaki Hirakawa 64) (Masayuki Okano 84), Tomislav Maric . Takashi Aizawa, Yoshinobu Minowa, Hiroki Ito, Hideki Sahara (Ken Tokura 84), Yasuhiro Nagahashi, Kengo Nakamura, Tomoaki Kuno (Taku Harada 78), Augusto de Souza, Marcus de Morais, Kazuki Ganaha, Juninho .

0 - 1

This match was also rather "chippy" and it was fortunate that Mr. Hajime Matsuo was in charge. Mr. Matsuo is one of the few officials in the league who actually converses with his linesmen, and talks to the players to give them verbal criticism, rather than going immediately to his pocket for the cards. In the 11 minute of this match, Mario Haas and Takashi Umeda got into a serious scuffle which many J.League refs might easily have overreacted to, with serious reprecussions.

The clash started when Gabriel Popescu stumbled to the ground in a crowd of Trinita players and fell on top of the ball. The whistle did not go, and the Trinita players tried to kick the ball loose, but Popescu used his legs to try to hold onto the ball. According to the rule book, this is not allowed, but Mr. Matsuo was some distance away from the play and did not see what was happening clearly, so he did not blow his whistle immediately, and when he did, the players may not have heard it. However, Haas apparently took exception to the fact that the Trinita players were beginning to kick more vigorously at Popescu's legs, trying to pry the ball free, and he burst into the crowd aggressively, trying to break things up. Though it was probablyu inadvertent, in the process he knocked Umeda off balance, and as he began to fall over the prostrate body of Popescu, he grabbed Haas' arm and pulled him down on top of him. Both players were clearly annoyed, and began flailing about with arms and legs, producing a scene which looked rather ugly, though a careful look at the replay shows that nobody involved in the scuffle appeared to throw any deliberate punches or kicks .

When Mr. Matsuo finally arrived on the scene, rather than losing his cool and making matters worse, he blew his whistle loudly in the ears of the scrambling players and ordered them to line up in front of him. He delifered a sharp, no-nonsense lecture and then ordered them to stand at attention while he got advice from the closest assistant referee. This highly professional reaction put a swift end to the scuffle while not provoking either team with what might be viewed as a sudden and rash punishment. After getting detailed information from his assistant, he called Haas and Umeda over, away from the rest of their teammates, delivered a second lecture and showed each of them a yellow, then insisted that they shake hands and get back to their regular positions on the field. While readers from Europe may be surprised by our detailed account of what may sound like a rather insignificant event, this was the sort of officiating behaviour that we hardly ever see in the J.League, and we want to commend Mr. Matsuo for his excellent handling of this incident, and the match as a whole. If only the J.League could find a few more referees who are capable of this sort of calm yet firm officiating, it would go a long way towards eliminating the problems which we complain about, almost every week. .

Though this was the most serious of the incidents in this match, play continued to be very intense and physical, with both teams aggressively fighting for the win. But the stars of the contest were the two keepers -- Tomonori Tateishi and Shusaku Nishikawa -- whose sterling play kept the contest scoreless until late in the second half. Both teams produced scoring opportunities by the score, but fine saves on both ends preserved the deadlock.

With less than ten minutes left to play, JEF won a free kick about 35 meters out from goal, and a brilliantly conceived and executed set play gave JEF the victory. Yuki Abe, whose powerful fight foot makes him a threat even from this distance, lined up to take the kick, with most of his teammates in the opposing penalty box. Trinita lined up all of their players either in the wall or deeper in the box, covering the other JEF players. But just as Abe began his approach to the ball, Popescu suddenly came dashing forward from his position as the lone defender held back, and raced down the left side. Abe found him with a perfectly weighted lead pass, and suddenly Popescu was level with the top of the box, on the left side, with no defenders to interfere with his cross. Popescu played a lovely line drive across the face of goal, and Yuto Sato met it with a diving header to give his team the victory.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Oita "Big Eye" Std.
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	1
	Scoring	Yuto Sato (81')
Takashi Umeda Tomoki Fukaya Takauyuki Yoshida Daiki Takamatsu Shota Matsuhashi	Cautions	Mario Haas Daisuke Saito
Lineups: Shusaku Nishikawa, Takashi Miki, Tomoki Fukaya, Yohei Fukumoto (Masato Yamazaki 88), Takashi Umeda (Shota Matsuhashi 83), Tulio, Edmilson, Takauyuki Yoshida, Yuichi Nemoto, Daiki Takamatsu, Magno Alves . Tomonori Tateishi, Kozo Yuki, Ilya Stoyanov, Daisuke Saito, Satoru Yamagishi (Kohei Kudo 77), Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Masataka Sakamoto, Gabriel Popescu (Naotake Hanyu 58), Seiichiro Maki, Mario Haas (Koki Mizumoto 85) .

1 - 3

In this contest, Sanfrecce seemed to play with great confidence even in a hostile Iwata Stadium. Though it took them 37 minutes to produce their first goal, even in the early stages of the contest they looked sharp with their passing and composed on defence. Robert Cullen provided a few moments of danger for the visitors with his individual runs and quick-release shots. However, since the injury to his strike partner Ryoichi Maeda, Cullen has not had any help up front to support his offensive runs. Norihiro Nishi has been starting for Jubilo recently at striker, but he lacks either the passing vision or the finishing ability to complement Cullen effectively.

Sanfrecce started the scoring shortly before the break, when a long cross from Hisato Sato in the left corner to Galvao at the far post was headed back in front of goal by Galvao, and Susumu Oki swept it into the net with a spinning right foot.

Shortly after the break, Jubilo's resistance finally collapsed, as strikers Galvao and Hisato Sato tallied in quick succession, putting the contest out of reach. Galvao was sent through into the Jubilo box eight minutes after the break, on a nice through pass by Kazuyuki Morisaki. As the keeper dashed off his line, Galvao toed the ball just underneath his flailing legs and into the back of the net. Morisaki was also the provider on the third goal, playing a short corner kick and then sending a cross to Sato at the far post, for a leaping header.
Jubilo did claim a late consolation goal, as Cullen finally managed to get completely behind the Sanfrecce defence, dribbling along the goal line before dropping a pass back to veteran Masashi "Gon" Nakayama at the penalty spot. Nakayama, the consummate poacher, side-footed it home to ease the pain slightly for home fans. But that was all Jubilo could manage, and the loss drops them well and truly out of title contention.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Iwata (Yamaha) Std.
1	0 1H 1 1 2H 2	3
Masashi Nakayama (87')	Scoring	Susumu Oki (37') Galvao (54') Hisato Sato (58')
Norihiro Nishi	Cautions	Hisato Sato Dininho Galvao
Lineups: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Kim Jin-Kyu, Makoto Tanaka, Takayuki Chano, Yoshiaki Ota (Takahiro Kawamura 74), Hiroshi Nanami (Masashi Nakayama 45), Toshihiro Hattori, Shinji Murai, Sho Naruoka, Robert Cullen, Norihiro Nishi (Keisuke Funatani 65) . Akihiro Sato, Shogo Nishikawa, Dininho, Norio Omura, Yuichi Komano (Gakuto Shigehara 45), Joubert "Beto" Martins, Susumu Oki (Ri Han-Jae 63), Kazuyuki Morisaki, Kota Hattori, Galvao (Tatsuro Kimura 76), Hayato Sato .

1 - 0

With both Shimizu S-Pulse and Omiya Ardija winning their matches on Saturday, Verdy are now four points adrift of the next-weakest opponent, and have only five matches remaining to climb out of the danger zone. Verdy have fallen mightily in just the space of a year. On January 1 of this year, Verdy claimed the Emperor's Cup trophy, and three months later they defeated Yokohama Marinos to add the Xerox Cup to their trophy cabinet. But now, the team which is slated to represent Japan in next year's Asian Champions League seems on the verge of being relegated to the J2. Those who read our match reports earlier this year, after Verdy won the Emperor's Cup but were pre-empted in this year's ACL tournament by Jubilo Iwata, will know that we predicted just such a farcical result. Wont it be fun, next year, when a DIVISION TWO club is sent out to represent the J.League in Asia's top club competition!

We can hardly wait.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Tokyo Natl Stadium
1	0 1H 0 0 2H 1	0
Yuji Nakazawa (83')	Scoring
Yoshiharu Ueno Rodrigo Gral Magrao	Cautions	Kenta Togawa
Lineups: Tatsuya Enomoto, Eisuke Nakanishi, Yuji Nakazawa, Naoki Matsuda, Hayuma Tanaka, Daisuke Oku (Daisuke Nasu 89), Yoshiharu Ueno, Dutra, Koji Yamase, (Magrao 79), Daisuke Sakata, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Rodrigo Gral 79) . Yoshinari Takagi, Kentaro Hayashi, Kenta Togawa, Kenichi Uemura (Kento Tsurumaki 85), Takuya Yamada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Daigo Kobayashi, Takeshi Hirano, Washington, Gilberto "Jill" Goncalves (Masayuki Yanagisawa 81), Takayuki Morimoto (Tadamichi Machida 75) .

1 - 2

S-Pulse, who have been slipping back towards the relegation zone in recent weeks, certainly appreciated the contribution, and a second goal by Marquinhos shortly before the half put them in a strong position at the break. Grampus fought back in the second half, but they were able to produce only one goal in response, by Makoto Kakuda midway through the second half. S-Pulse hung on for the victory, and moved onto somewhat safer ground, in 14th place.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Toyota Stadium
1	0 1H 2 1 2H 0	2
Makoto Kakuda (66')	Scoring	Naoaki Aoyama (8') Marquinhos (36')
	Cautions	Kazumichi Takagi
Lineups: Seigo Narazaki, Masahiro Koga, Makoto Kakuda, Takahiro Masukawa, Claiton, An Yong-Ha (Keisuke Honda 60), Masayuki Omori, Toshiya Fujita, Keita Sugimoto (Satoshi Nakayama 76), Naoshi Nakamura, Yohei Toyoda . Yohei Nishibe, Daisuke Ichikawa, Naoaki Aoyama, Ryuzo Morioka, Takahiro Yamanishi, Keisuke Ota (Takumi Wada 89), Takuma Edamura, Kazumichi Takagi, Akihiro Hyodo, Marquinhos (Yasumasa Nishino 82), Cho Jae-Jin .

1 - 2

Though the contest was played at a ferocious pace for the full 90 minutes, all of the scoring took place in the first half hour. Yukio Tsuchiya started things off for Reysol with a diving header to meet Keiji Tamada's 40-meter-plus free kick, redirecting it past the keeper and into the low left corner.

But Omiya responded just a few mintues later as Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel collected an overlap pass from Fujimoto on the right edge of the box, turned towards the near post and then squeezed a low angle shot just under the crossbar. In the 23 minute, Fujimoto and Tuto again exchanged passes just above the penalty area and Tuto made his break for goal. But this time Fujimoto spotted the keeper cheating off his line to ensure that Tuto didnt beat him to the short side a second time. Instead of passing the ball off, Fujimoto lofted a soft floater for the top left corner. the cheeky lob caught Yuta Minami off guard and managed to elude the desperately backpedaling keeper, dropping softly into the the back of the net.

Reysol put on a strong charge in the second half as they fought for the equaliser, but neither team could add to the score line and the Saitama Squirrels moved onto safe ground, at least for a week.

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Kashiwa-no-ha Stadium
1	1 1H 2 0 2H 0	2
Yukio Tsuchiya (8')	Scoring	Tuto Ruschel (17') Chikara Fujimoto (23')
Harutaka Ono Norihiro Satsukawa	Cautions	Jun Marcus Davidson Tuto Ruschel
Lineups: Yuta Minami, Norihiro Satsukawa (Tomonori Hirayama 58), Yasuhiro Hato, Yukio Tsuchiya, Ryo Kobayashi, Hidekazu Otani, Harutaka Ono, Cleber Santana Loureio. Franza (Yuji Unozawa 69), Keiji Tamada, Reynaldo . Hiroki Aratani, Takuro Nishimura, Toninho, Seiichiro Okuno, Daisuke Tomita, Masato Saito (Shin Kanazawa 78), Jun Marcus Davidson, Livonir "Tuto" Ruschel, Chikara Fujimoto, Leandro (Tatsunori Hisanaga 73), Naoto Sakurai (Yasunari Hiraoka 89), .

1 - 1

Vissel were quite lucky just to claim a point from this match, as Albirex had them under pressure for much of the contest. Only some desperately scrambling defensive work kept the ball out of their net on several occasions in the first half.

Things only got worse in the second half, as midfielder Akihiro Endo picked up his second yellow card just eight minutes after the break reducing Vissel to ten men. Midway through the second stanza, Albirex finally found the net, as Fabinho raced down the right side on a counterattack and fired home from the top right corner of the box.

But in a last-gasp effort, as the match moved into injury time, Keisuke Kurihara unleashed a long, desperate shot from almost 35 meters and remarkably, the ball found its way through a forest of legs in the penalty area and just inside the left post. Though the late equaliser provided both players and fans with a badly needed boost to morale, for Vissel Kobe, relegation now looks almost certain

Date: 29 Oct, 2005		Location: Kobe Wing Stadium
1	0 1H 0 1 2H 1	1
Keisuke Kurihara (89')	Scoring	Fabinho (72')
Martin Muller Hideo Tanaka Akihiro Endo Keisuke Tsubouchi Akihiro Endo Naoya Saeki	Cautions
Akihiro Endo	Sent Off
Lineups: Seiji Honda, Park Kang-Jo, Martin Muller, Kunie Kitamoto, Shusuke Tsubouchi, Ivo Ulich, Akihiro Endo, Naoya Saeki, Hideo Tanaka (Mitsutoshi Watada 76), Hiromi Kojima (Keisuke Kurihara 66), Tomoyuki Hirase (Ryuji Bando 58) . Koichi Kidera, Anderson Lima (Yusaku Ueno 80), Naoki Takahashi Shigenori Hagimura, Susumu Umeyama, Naoya Kikuchi, Hiroyoshi Kuwahara (Yohito Terakawa 71), Iwao Honma, Fabinho, Shingo Suzuki, Edmilson .

2 - 1

With a minute remaining in injury time for the first half, midfielder Yuta Baba collected a ball about 35 meters out from goal amd suddenly looked up, took a stutter-step, and unleashed a ballistic missile which thundered off the right post and into the netting, rattling the entire stadium and setting off seismometers as far away as Osaka. Once in a while a plauyer will uncork a solid drive from midfield and catch the keeper by surprise, slipping it past him before he can react. But this was not at all what happened in this case. Indeed, Gamba keeper Yosuke Fujigaya was lucky that he didnt lose a few fingers in his bid to deflect it. The thuderous power of the strike sent the huge home crowd alight and FC Tokyo retired to the locker room walking on sunshine.

When the second half commenced, the momentum of the match was completely reversed, with Tokyo pounding furiously on the door in search of the go-ahead goa, and Gamba hanging on desperately for life. If TOkyo's finishing had been a bit better they could have put the match out of reach in that first 15-minute spell. Striker Lucas Severino had at least three close-range chances while Baba and Yoshiro Abe were firing off shots from every part of the pitch. Although Gamba managed to ride out the initial surge, they never did fully cucceed in reversing the momentum. Midway through the period, the dam finally broke, as Lucas and Abe combined for yet another barrage of short-range attempts, each deflected away by the defence. But as Fujigaya rushed to punch away the second attempt, he failed to make solid contact, and Yasuyuki Konno poached the ball right out from under the feet of a defender, pushing it into the vacated goal mouth and sending the stadium into an even greater frenzy of celebration.

Even after going a goal down, Gamba still could not find their rhythm. It often seemed like the strike force was trying too hard -- each looking to make the crucial play all by themselves rather than working the ball around with teammates. FC Tokyo rode the wave of adrenaline generated by their unlikely comeback and held Gamba at bay until the final whistle.

Date: 30 Oct, 2005		Location: Ajinomoto Stadium
2	1 1H 1 1 2H 0	1
Yuta Baba (44') Yasuyuki Konno (71')	Scoring	Sidiclei (1')
	Cautions	Kota Yoshihara Araujo
Lineups: Yoichi Doi, Ryuji Fujiyama, Jean Carlo Witte, Teruaki Moniwa, Jo Kanazawa, Yohei Kajiyama, Yasuyuki Konno, Mitsuhiro Toda (Norio Suzuki 59), Yuta Baba (Ryoichi Kurisawa 87) Yoshiro Abe, Lucas Severino (Sasa Salcedo 66) . Yosuke Fujigaya, Sidiclei, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Toshihiro Matsushita 86), Satoru Yamaguchi, Mitsuteru Watanabe, Hideo Hashimoto, Yasuhito Endo, Akihiro Ienaga, Araujo, Masashi Oguro (Kota Yoshihara 66), Fernandinho (Masanobu Matsunami 84) .

0 - 0

But keeper Hitoshi Sogahata was having a fine afternoon, cutting down several dangerous Cerezo breaks with well-timed dashes out of his box to clear long lead passes, and as the second half reached its midway point, Akinori Nishizawa got a bit too excited and threw away Cerezo's advantage. Nishizawa was chasing a ball into the Antlers box, and rather than give up on it as the defence closed in, he launched himself at it cleats first, only for Go Oiwa to arrive first and clear it, before being spiked in the shins by the flying Nishizawa. After his relatively harsh treatment of Araiba, Mr. Kashiwahara might have been inclined to give Nishizawa a straight red as well, but after consjulting his book and seeing that Nishizawa was already in it, he settled for awarding a second yellow, which had the same ultimate effect.

As time ran down, both teams had good opportunities, but this was one of those nights where neither side could find the target, and they had to settle for an equal share of the points, both edging slightly closer to Gamba as a result

Date: 30 Oct, 2005		Location: Nagai Stadium
0	0 1H 0 0 2H 0	0
	Scoring
Hiroaki Morishima Fabinho Akinori Nishizawa Kiyokazu Kudo Akinori Nishizawa	Cautions	Fernando Alex Mineiro
Akinori Nishizawa	Sent Off	Toru Araiba
Lineups: Motohiro Yoshida, Bruno Cuadros, Tomoya Maeda (Kenta Fujimoto 73), Hiroshige Yanagimoto, Fabinho, Takanori Nunobe, Kiyokazu Kudo, Ze Carlos (Takuya Kokeguchi 23), Tatsuya Furuhashi, Akinori Nishizawa, Hiroaki Morishima (Hiroshi Miyahara 82) . Hitoshi Sogahata, Takeshi Aoki, Go Oiwa, Daiki Iwamasa, Toru Araiba, Ricardinho (Takuya Nozawa 80), Fernando (Tatsuya Ishikawa 89), Mitsuo Ogasawara, Masaki Fukai (Takayuki Suzuki 71), Masashi Motoyama, Alex Mineiro .

Thanks to the draw between Cerezo and Antlers, Gamba Osaka was able to retain its position atop the table, though now its lead has become razor-thin. The Antlers move to within a point, and two teams -- Urawa Reds and Cerezo -- are now four points back. At one point earlier this year it seemed like the season was going to be decided early on, but once again it appears that the J.League title will go down to the wire.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Vissel Kobe could be assured of relegation by the end of next week, but there are about five other teams which are still battling among themselves to see who will join them in the J2 next season. The month of November promises to be a great season for football, so tune in again next week.

.	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	G.Dif
1	Gamba Osaka	54	29	16	6	7	74	50	+24
2	Kashima Antlers	53	29	15	8	6	53	33	+20
3	Urawa Reds	50	29	14	8	7	55	33	+22
4	Cerezo Osaka	50	29	14	8	7	41	36	+5
5	JEF United	49	29	13	10	6	48	36	+12
6	Kawasaki Frontale	46	29	14	4	11	48	37	+11
7	Jubilo Iwata	44	29	12	8	9	44	35	+9
8	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	43	29	11	10	8	43	32	+11
9	FC Tokyo	38	29	9	11	9	36	35	+1
10	Yokohama Marinos	37	29	9	10	10	33	37	-4
11	Oita Trinita	35	29	10	5	14	34	36	-2
12	Nagoya Grampus	35	29	9	8	12	38	42	-4
13	Albirex Niigata	35	29	9	8	12	41	53	-12
14	Shimizu S-Pulse	32	29	7	11	11	34	42	-8
15	Omiya Ardija	31	29	9	4	16	32	45	-13
16	Kashiwa Reysol	30	29	7	9	13	31	45	-14
17	Tokyo Verdy	26	29	5	11	13	34	61	-27
18	Vissel Kobe	21	29	4	9	16	27	58	-31

Ehime Oranges Ripe for a J2 Berth

Considering all the action in both J1 and J2 this season, to say nothing of the national team's quest for a World Cup berth, we have not had time to provide very many reports on the happenings in Japan's lower-level leagues. For those of you who have not been following the links to our JFL match scores, an update is in order, as a number of very intersting developments have been steadily laying the groundwork for a further expansion in Japan's footballing structure some time in the next several years.

As we noted at the start of this year, the J.League's so-called "Hundred Year Plan" envisions further expansion of the J1 and J2 until there are a total of 32 teams in these two divisions, at which point the league officials would examine factors such as financial and organizational support, and public interest, and conside the creation of a third professional division below the J2. A number of things have to happen first, however, and even though the vision spelled out in the J.League's "Hundred Year Plan" is exciting to contemplate, it will take a lot of day-by-day legwork and cooperation from a wide range of organisations and individuals, over a period of many years, to even realise this preliminary phase of league expansion.

The good news is that despite some deliberately cautious actions taken and strict standards enforced by the J.League, which breifly gave the impression that the league was having second thoughts, it now looks like another new provessional team will be welcomed into the J2 next season.

For a while, there were indications that this might not happen. After a lot of local enthusiasm and a strong run of winning results last season, Thespa Kusatsu has struggled very hard to find its feet after joining the J2 this year. The team has not built a fan base as quickly as some had hoped, and though the team is managing to break even financially, Thespa's poor showing on the pitch gave a lot of people in the J.League head office second thoughts about bringing up any more new participants. Tokushima Vortis -- the other new addition to the J.League this year -- has prospered in tis first season, and seems to be on a positive track. However, the J.League bent the rules slightly last year to allow Thespa Kusatsu into the J2, and the team's weak performance prompted officials to decide that the entry standards would be strictly applied this year. Thus, when three JFL teams applied for permission to become promotion candidates, all applications were rejected. It looked like a temporary detour on the way to league expansion.

But just days after the application of Ehime FC was rejected, the J.League front office was stunned to have a large delegation of politicians and business leaders -- led by Ehime governor Moriyuki Kato -- suddenly show up on their doorstep demanding that the League reconsider its stance. Of all the applications, Ehime's was the strongest, but it seemed that some of the head office bureaucrats had made up their mind to wait a year before adding any new teams, and they were able to identify some technicalities that allowed them to disqualify the application. The crucial shortcoming that the J.League had identified in disqualifying Ehime FC involved the size and condition of FC Ehime's home stadium. But the club has become wildly popular in its home region, and with their next-door neighbours Tokushima Vortis already in the J2, it seems that everyone in the prefecture has jumped on the bandwagon and is looking forward to having their own J.League team.

The delegation from Ehime prefecture assured the League that Ehime FC would have whatever financial, organizational and infrastructure support it needed, and there was no excuse for the league to reject the petition. Taken aback by this forceful statement, the League began to bend, but held up the issue of the stadium as a final excuse. A club official pointed out that Thespa Kusatsu had not located a sufficiently large stadium when they were inducted either, but the League replied that the rulse were being strictly applied now, and unless the team demonstrated that it would have a sufficiently large seating capacity to meet J2 standards, they would have to wait a year

At this point, according to one source, the delegates from the Ehime government called their bluff, insisting that the stadium would be expanded and upgraded to meet the J2 requirements, and there was no point in making further excuses. "Come on down to Matsuyama next weekend. By the time you arrive, there will already be construction work under way."

This tremendous show of support by the local community, business leaders and of course, the local fans, won over the sceptical J.League brass, and they agreed that if Ehime could finish in the top two of the JFL this season, they will earn a spot in the J2 next year. As of this weekend, Ehime FC had moved two points clear into first place, and with five matches remaining, it looks highly likely that the J2 wil have a new member next season.

But that is not the only good news fropm the JFL. Another team with strong fan support and the potential to spread football fever to a new part of the country has made great strides this season. Alo's Hokuriku, located in Toyama city, on the Japan Sea coast, has emerged as a very competitive opponent this season, and the team has already reorganised its club structure to allow it to qualify for J2 admission. Though Alo's Hokuriku was not one of the clubs that petitioned for the right to be promoted, this year, if they continue to develop as rapidly as they did this season we think that they will probably throw their hat in the ring next season.

Another team that has been doing well on the pitch for years, but has never considered J.League admission before, is DENSO. Though the team has slipped to the lower end of the JFL table this year, it won the nationwide amateur championship in both 1993 and 1995, and was courted as a possible J2 candidate when the J.League's second division was created in 1999. However, DENSO chose to remain a corporate-sponsored club and remained in the JFL. Since then, the team's fortunes have not been as favourable, and many "old boys" and long-time fans began to pressure the company, Nippon Denso, to let the club set up an independent structure which would make it eligible to join the J.League. In September, the company agreed, and from next season the team will be renamed "Kariya Citizen's FC".

Here are the JFL standings as of October 31.